


cool as a fire

by xenoglossy



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 03:57:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16757221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoglossy/pseuds/xenoglossy
Summary: Laegjarn would have been just as happy to be left alone in her captivity, in her shame. Well, notalone, obviously--of course they had to guard her. But that Princess Fjorm herself insisted on doing so was uncomfortable enough, and to make matters worse, Fjorm also insisted ontalkingto her.





	cool as a fire

Laegjarn would have been just as happy to be left alone in her captivity, in her shame. Well, not _alone_ , obviously--of course they had to guard her. But that Princess Fjorm herself insisted on doing so was uncomfortable enough, and to make matters worse, Fjorm also insisted on _talking_ to her. Fjorm worried whether Laegjarn was bored, or lonely. Fjorm brought Laegjarn shares of the rations and apologized that she couldn't offer better food. Fjorm tended to Laegjarn's wounds.

"Strange," Laegjarn said on one such occasion. "First you injure me, and now you attempt to nurse me back to health."

Fjorm looked down, away from Laegjarn's face. "I did what I had to do," she said. "For whatever it's worth, I wish it had been otherwise." Her hands were gentle and cool as she applied a fresh bandage to Laegjarn's arm.

She had said such things many times already, and something about it had bothered Laegjarn every time, in some way she couldn't define. This time, before she could really think about it, she heard herself say, "Why?"

Fjorm's head snapped up. "What?"

"Why do you wish that you hadn't had to hurt me? Why do you believe that we could have been close, were the world only a little different?" She tried to keep her voice even, emotionless, but she couldn't fully prevent bitterness from seeping in. "I have done nothing, in the entire time that we've known one another, but to bring harm to you, your friends, your _family_ \--"

Fjorm winced as this last shot struck home, but she did not respond immediately. She took a deep breath and fastened the bandage and finally said, "I suppose... it never seemed as though it was what you wanted to do."

"Why wouldn't it be?" said Laegjarn. "To protect my sister, I would destroy any of you without a second thought." It had been true once, at least. Laegjarn hoped it still was, but she had the unpleasant feeling that it might not be.

"But that's just it," said Fjorm. "You're not like your father. You don't seek destruction for the sake of destruction. You're only fighting to protect those you care about--just as I am, just as we all are in the Order of Heroes."

"I am nothing at all like you or anyone in your little band of heroes," Laegjarn snapped. "You know little about me, and understand less. And I fail to see why you should even try to understand more than is necessary in battle. One day one of us will kill the other; there is no other end to this story. So if you're quite finished with your efforts to heal the wounds you and your heroes inflicted, I ask that you leave."

"If that's what you want," said Fjorm.

Fjorm left the tent with her head down and her shoulders slumping. Well, good. Her kindness and empathy were no asset to a soldier; sooner or later she would have to learn to quash them. And really, she should know better than to try to involve herself with Laegjarn. Laegjarn, like all her family, was a fire that consumed everything in her path. And, loath though she was to admit it even to herself, she would hate to see Fjorm burn.


End file.
